Leslie Bellavance, dean of the School of Art & Design at Alfred University, will present the March 15 Bergren Forum at AU beginning at 12:10 p.m. in Nevins Theater, Powell Campus Center. The program is open to the public; admission is free.

"Words and Images: Imagination and Making Sense" will involve the artist’s reflection on works of art in which she has explored "a complex relationship between words and images that proposes an integrated perception rooted in the imagination and conditioned by rhetoric." Key to her discussion, says Bellavance, "is the intricate navigation of self through an unfolding and temporal world. "

Bellavance will discuss large installation works, drawings, photographs, and sculptures through which she has explored "the premise that images and text excite the imagination and inspire a subjective narrative that posits identity as being in flux."

As an undergraduate, Bellavance traveled abroad and lived in Rome, Italy for a year. She received a bachelor of fine arts degree summa cum laude from Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Chicago.

She has exhibited her artwork in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has received numerous grants and awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship. Her book, "analemmic," was awarded a residency and published by Nexus Press in Atlanta, Ga.

Bellavance has written and lectured extensively on contemporary art. From 1981 until 2005 she served on the faculty of the Department of Visual Art in the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she also served as head of the photography program, director of Graduate Studies in Art, and interim associate dean. From 2005 until 2010 she served as professor of art and the director of the School of Art and Art History at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.

The Bergren Forum, sponsored by the Alfred University Division of Human Studies and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, meets Thursdays during each academic semester while classes are in session. Participants are encouraged to bring a lunch: coffee and tea will be available.